---
title: A thick wood lay in front of him, and, fastening the bridle tightly… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: A thick wood lay in front of him, and, fastening the bridle tightly to a tree, he flung himself on his hands and knees and began to hunt for the treasure. Who acts: thick wood, deal. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 38, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 38, sentence 51

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A thick wood lay in front of him, and, fastening the bridle tightly to a tree, he flung himself on his hands and knees and began to hunt for the treasure.

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**Who acts:** thick wood, deal · **What happens:** lay, fasten, fling, begin, hunt · **To what, where:** front, bridle, deal, hands

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thick wood, deal), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg3027:38:51
# text = A thick wood lay in front of him, and, fastening the bridle tightly to a tree, he flung himself on his hands and knees and began to hunt for the treasure.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	fastening	fasten	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	bridle	bridle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	tightly	tightly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
22	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	obj	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	hunt	hunt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	treasure	treasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lay** | present | a thick wood |  |  | front of deal |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in front=Destination |
| 2 | **fasten** | gerund | a thick wood *not said here* | the bridle |  |  |  | to a tree; tightly *property* | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent bridle=Patient to tree=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **fling** | past | deal | deal |  | deal's hands and knees |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent himself=Theme on hand=Destination |
| 4 | **begin** | past | deal *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **hunt** | to-infinitive | deal *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the treasure | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent for treasure=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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